I spent the weekend in Ormond Beach (just north of Daytona Beach) with one of my good friends and her family. If you are a race fan then you know that the Coke 400 race was this past weekend and as I watched the last 13 laps of the race on TV, it hit me how much of a marketing ploy racing is. Apparently, it is a $30 million per year per car marketing campaign! Cars are sponsored by companies, which cover the car, the driver’s race suit, etc., with their name and logo. Race fans, in support of their favorite driver, are adorned with shirts, hats, shorts, flip flops, face tattoos, and more - all with the driver’s car number and possibly the driver’s name. All of these fans are walking billboards for these race car drivers and the car itself is a mobile ad for the sponsoring company. Racing is the only sport I can think of that works this way, so I say Kudos to the racing industry and its marketing geniuses!